When Maryland softball coach Julie Wright arrived in College Park, she preached the importance of being aggressive on the bases.
But in her first two-and-a-half seasons at the helm, she’s been much more conservative in that regard than she was in her previous job at Idaho State. The Terps have succeeded on 66 of their 84 stolen-base attempts under her watch. For comparison, in her final year with the Bengals, her team went 88-for-97 on steal attempts in just 52 games.
Wright attributes the change in philosophy to her concern about runners getting thrown out due to bad jumps.
“We talk about the first 10 feet and the last 10 feet stealing bases,” Wright said. “We need to be better on our first 10 feet and accelerating more into our last 10 feet, and that’s why you haven’t seen me running as much as I’d like to. We haven’t been performing well and we’ve been getting thrown out by catchers we shouldn’t be getting thrown out by.”
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This weekend against Iowa, the Terps will have a chance to turn their running game up a notch. The Hawkeyes have thrown out only three of 60 attempted base-stealers, which ranks last in the Big Ten.
Wright said Maryland has focused on baserunning the last two weeks of practice, giving her optimism about the matchup.
She can also take positives from how the Terps performed last weekend against Penn State, when they went 3-for-3 on stolen bases. The Nittany Lions have been nearly as bad as the Hawkeyes at holding runners, allowing 36 steals on 38 attempts.
Maryland has some known running threats, and although they seldom ran last season, they were effective when they did. Outfielders Amanda Brashear and Kassidy Cross were each 2-for-3 stealing, infielders Brigette Nordberg and Skylynne Ellazar were both 4-for-4 and outfielder Destiney Henderson went 4-for-6.
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This year, Ellazar is 6-for-8 on steals, Nordberg is 2-for-3 and Cross is 3-for-4. Henderson has been limited to just five substitute appearances and no starts on the season. She has yet to attempt a steal.
Ellazar had two of the team’s three steals last weekend, rounding out an all-around strong offensive weekend.
“I’m just trying to keep it simple and not get out of myself or try to do too much,” Ellazar said.
Newcomers have also shown promise on the basepaths. Outfielder JoJo McRae, a freshman who has often appeared as a pinch-runner, is 2-for-2, as is infielder Mikayla Werahiko, a junior college transfer. Werahiko may be the most intriguing baserunning threat Maryland has — in two years at Florida Southwestern State the junior stole 92 bases in 99 attempts.
